3-in-1 Expedit Kitchen Counter

Description: So my wife and I were setting up our first home, and it’s a small but beautiful white box of a place with a minimalist excuse of a kitchen along one wall of the living room.

We figured we needed some sort of dining table, plus more kitchen counter space, space to work at our laptops, plus general storage… all without taking up precious living room space. What better solution than to use the Expedit bookcase on its side as a storage base for a kitchen/dining counter!

Sure, we’ve seen lots of hacks with Expedit shelves, Capita legs and various table tops, but I thought I’d just share the little touches that made this project extra special.

3) Since I knew the cantilevered top would have to take a lot of stress, I figured that I had to secure the Capita Legs to the Expedit with more than just double sided foam tape. This is a closeup of how each Capita leg base was screwed into the Expedit. I had to chisel away bits of plastic to fit the screw heads. (The bits of 3M tape were just there to help me position the legs accurately.)

4) The metal cap hides the screws completely!

5) The penultimate step… just before popping the table top onto the plastic feet.

6)The gap under the table top is perfect for keeping our 2 laptops and with mice and cables away for mealtimes!

7) The table top floats away from the wall for more comfortable seating (no one likes to be squeezed against the wall). The resultant gap is perfect for keeping table-top accessories like utensils and tissues. Our Nespresso machine lives there now.

8) The finished Kitchen-counter/Dining-Table/Work-Station. 3-in-1! Completed with a few Kassett boxes and Stig stools. The open shelving lets light through to our kitchen, with space to display our books and knick-knacks.

Enjoy!

P.S. The curvy wooden thing is an stool I made as a freshman design+build project in architecture school. Cost me a bomb to fly that back home to Singapore from Pittsburgh, but it is so happy to have the place of honour at our dining table! (And it’s way more comfortable than the Stig stools!!)

Related Posts

The Author

Jules Yap "I am Jules, the engine behind IKEAHackers and the one who keeps this site up and running. My mission is to capture all the wonderful, inspiring, clever hacks and ideas for our much loved IKEA items".

21 Responses to 3-in-1 Expedit Kitchen Counter

Thanks for the tip on how to secure the Capita legs to the top of the Expedit. I want to pull my Expedit unit away from the wall for a party, but was worried the shelf I made for my turntables to sit on top of it would slide forward, now they will be secure, with the added addition of super strength glue too! Thanks again.

This bar looks really great!I want to try this ikeahacking, but like it says, the vika amon shelve combine with the asymetrical positioning and cantilevered, all of this seems to be not durbale with time.So, I’ve this idea:Replace the vika amon top (75cm x 150cm),by a worktop Numerär ( 126cm x 62cm ). The worktop is heavier than vika amon, so I want add 4 more capita legs ( 8 capita legs in all). And I think, angle bracket to enhance the shelf expedit.Did you think it’s a crazy stuff? The Expedit never will support numerär weight?

We’ve been using this since the New Year, so about 3.5 months now. The Expedit is holding up perfectly well. In fact, we’ve just added one more Expedit shelf (2×2 squares) at right angles to this one, on the kitchen side, to hold more kitchen appliances.

The Vika Amon table top is beginning to warp since it is just hollow particle-board! I think it isn’t meant to be cantilevered this much. I would recommend a more solid table-top surface if you want to try this!

I love this design! I have such a small place and this functional. I noticed that you posted this in march so since then, how has this table been?Is the expedit bookshelf holding up? Would you change anything or recommend using something else?

Wow! I just found your crazy blog and it’s amazing! I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with Ikea. I love how clever their stuff is, but I hate that I love it! I’ve always been more of a vintage/antique/thrift furniture person. But you’ve absolutely given me a new respect for personalized Ikea!! Thanks!

Explore Archives

COPYRIGHT @ 2017 - 2018 IKEAHACKERS.NET | IKEA is a registered trademark of Inter-IKEA Systems B.V. | IKEAhackers is a fan-run website and is NOT related to IKEA, IKEA.com or the IKEA Group. Any and all links to IKEA.com are presented for reader convenience only and do not imply IKEA's approval of this website and/or the modification of its products. IKEA and IKEAhackers.net are not liable for any product failure, injury or damage resulting from the application of hacks featured on this site.